Cut-nail machine



(No Model.) 4 SheetsSheet' 1.

J. ALTMEYER. OUT NAIL MACHINE.

No. 351,304. Patented Oct. 19, 1886.

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. ALTMEYER. GUT NAIL MACHINE tented 001;. 19, 1886.

4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

J. ALTME YER. GUT NAIL MACHINE.

No. 351,304. Patented Oct. 19, 1886.

(No Model.) 4 SheetsJ-Sheet 4. J. ALTMEYER. GUT NAIL MACHINE No. 351,304. Patented 0011.19, 1886.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIcn.

JACOB ALTMEYER, OF BENWOOD, WVEST VIRGINIA.

CUT-NAIL MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 351,304, dated October 19, 1886,

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J AOOB ALTMEYER, of Benwood, in the county of Marshall and State of West Virginia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Out-Nail Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to cut-nail machines. It is shown as applied to that class of machines known as flat-grip machines, but is in part applicable to edge-grip machines.

The object of my invention is to form out nails with a point of any desired taper or shape, or to form a nail tapering from the head to the point.

In these machines, as ordinarily used, the gripping-dies are located and operate on one side of the lip under which the nail-blank is held and turned by the nipper, the side being that which the head of the nail is formed upon. In whatarecalled flatgrip machines,which is the machine described hereinafter, the dies grip the nail-blank on the rolled side and hold it for the header, and in thus gripping it, for the purpose of putting a head on it, they compress itforthe small portion of its length nearest the head, redueing the thickness of the blank. The other parts of the nail made upon machine in common use remain of the ordinary thickness of the blank and have no taper on that side. The only point that isv given to the nail is that imparted to it by the direction of the out. It has been heretofore impracticable to apply the die to the other parts of the nail, for the reason that both the lip and the nipper overlap the blank and occupy the space behind it between the ordinary die and the point and prevent the use of a die extending to a point.

Attempt has been made, as shown in the United States Patent of Richards, No. 100, 447 of March 1, 1870, to supply a pointing-die on the point side of the nail-blank; but this could operate on a small extent only of the point of the nail-blank, and would leave the central portions of the nail of the thickness of the original blank. Further, any die operating upon the nail while under the lip would require to be fitted to pass under the lip more accurately than is possible in practice.

My invention consists of a removable lip and of a removable nipper in connection with grippingdies and with pointingdies; and it also consists of details of construction hereinafter shown.'

The construction in which I have embodied my invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents the machine partly in side elevation and partly in section. Fig. 2 is a plan view with parts also in section. Fig. 3 represents inperspectivethe lip and its supports detached. Fig. 4 shows in side eleva tion the mechanism for operating the lip and the nipper. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of 65 the die and hook for holdingthe same. Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate the operation of the dies, nipper, and lip. Fig. 8 represents in perspective the form of header employed in making horseshoe-nails.

The frame of the machine and the general construction are the same as those in common use. There is a stationary knife, A, of ordinary construction on a bed, a, and a movable knife, B, also of ordinary construction and 7 carried with the spring-gage c, on the ordinary cutting-off lever, b. The bedpiece a is formed without a lip, and the stationary knife projeets over its front end, as shown in Fig. 1, a distance about equal to the thickness of the nail-plate. In place of the permanent lip ordinarily formed on the front of the bed-piece, I provide a removable lip, d. This is combined with mechanism hereinafter described, whereby it is withdrawn after the nail-blank has received a quarter-turn and been gripped by the ordinary grippingdies, c 0, near the head. These dies grip upon the rolled side of the nail-blanks and hold them for the purpose of heading, and by compression reduce the thickness of the blank, as in other machines of this class; but as soon as this die grips the nailblank, and while the heading mechanism is operating, the movable lip is drawn back and away from the front of the bed-piece. \Vith 5 this movable lip is also drawn away the spring nipper f, so that no obstruction is leftin front of the bed-pieee or the nail-blank not covered by the first dies. This gives place for the advance of the second die, 5/, which may be of any desired shape, according to the kind of point required. This die requires movement independently of the first moving die, for the reason that it cannot be applied to the nailblank until after the nipper is removed, and the first moving die must be applied before the nipper is removed.

The mechanism for operating the second gripping-die is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and in detail figures. A holding'lever, G, is pivoted underneath, and, extending upward, carries a socket-ed head, h, in which is set the moving die 9. The socketed head fits into a recess in the face of the gripping-die lever E; A hole in the rear of the head, made horizontally through the main'die lever E, receives a'plunger, t,- the front end of which bears against the;

head, whileits rear end bears upon a block on a-lever, I, pivoted at its lower end, and hear ing at its upper end against a cam, k, on the main shaft K. A spring, 1, acting on an arm,

2, on the lever Gr, tends to draw it back, and

movement of the lever E has advanced the first die, and to leave sufficient time to allow the nipper and lip to be drawn out of the way.

A great variety of mechanisms might be used for the purpose of operating the nipper and lip. I have shown devices convenient for the purpose in Figs. 2 and 3 and in detailed figures. The bar which carries the lip is shown enlarged and in detail in Fig. 3. The lip dis on the end of a springarm, L, set in a socket removably on the end of a bar, M. This bar slides in a guide fixed to astandard, N, on the main frame. (shown in Fig. 3) for adjusting it to bring the lip accurately into position. The sliding bar rests on its bearings only at the ends ofthe guide to lessen friction, and blocks m are set in the upper part, having threaded stems projecting through slots in the sides, and setscrews 6 6, by means of which the blocks may be adjusted to fit the bar and prevent inaccurate motion of the lip. The arm L is thinned at 7 to give lateral elasticity. .I provide a movable box, 20, attached to the back of the bed-piece by means of small guidesabove and below, in which the box .fits accurately, and can slide from front to rear, but cannot move vertically. The barM passes centrally. through thisbox and receives from it additional steadiness. The bar M is pivoted to the end of an arm of a bell-crank lever, O. The other arm of this bell-crank lever is connected to an arm, 1), of a frame, P, pivoted at 8 on the main frame of the machine. This frame operates like a bell-crank lever, and inthe end ispivoted on centering-pins 9 and 10 a block, q, which car- The standard has connectionsries the nipper Q and its holdingarm Q. The distance between the pivotal point 8 and the pivots of the block qis less than the length of the arm of the bell-crank lever which operates the lip, so thatthe lip is moved forward a greater distance, or quite up to the side of the first gripdie, and it is necessary to move the nipper only to a point about midway of the nail-blank.

It will be understood that the block q is the same as that in the old machines, the only. difference being that it is movable instead of being in fixed bearings; and its bearings are in the upper and lower arms of theframe, which is pivoted on pointed center-pins, the upper one of which is marked 9, and may be turned down to compensate for wear.

In order to steady the frame, I provide an arm, 15, placed on the main frame at 16, carrying an upper pivot in line with the pivot 8, and on. this the frame turns steadily. The arm 15 is provided with a large hole, through which. thepin 9 passes, and which allows the pin to move from side to side as the frame moves back and forth. 7

The arm p is connected to a lever, r, by an arm, R. The lever r is operated by a cam, T, on the main shaft, and by a spring, S, the cam operating'to advance the lip and nipper and the spring to withdraw them. When the lever rides onto the high part of the cam, the nipper and the lip are advanced, and are held in this advanced position so long as the lever remains onthis high part. The movement is timed so that the nipper and lip are advanced before the movement of the cutting-die has brought down the nail-blank. The high part of the cam is long enough to hold the nipper and the lip in advanced position until the nail-blank has been quarter turned, held andgripped by the first moving die,and the second dieis ready to advance. Then the lever rides off the high part, and thereaction of the'spring S quickly retracts the nipper and lip and leaves the nailblank entirely uncovered from the first gripper to the point. Instead of the spring, a second cam may be used to drawback the nipper, and will be usedas a well-known equivalent. The low part of the cam T gives time for the operation of the second die, whichcompletes the nail, and the machine is then in position for a second operation.

The nipper is operated to turn the-nail by means of a lever, u,connected to. the armQ by rod 22, and operated by a cam, U, on the main shaft. The. nipper is drawn back by means of a spring, V, to which it is connected.

Theoperation ofthe nipper when in its adthe side of the dies 6 e to the point of the blank, or may be narrower and limited to a section of the nail-blank at the point. These faces may be modified to correspond to the kind of nail required, and as they are capable, in connection with other dies, of givingagrip to the entire length of the nail-blank, they may be used to make horseshoe-nails, or nails, spikes, 850., of any form or taper.

The construction and operation of the moving dies are more clearly shown in detail, Figs. 6 and 7 but the die 9 may be extended laterally until it touches the side of the die e, which is shown as turned back. In Fig. 7 the nipper and lip are shown advanced, anclin Fig. 6 withdrawn and the die 9 advanced. The point may be slightly inclined toward the diee, so as to insure accuracy of fit and avoid leaving any feathering of metal on the nail.

The special construction and operation of the lever which carries the movable knife and the heading mechanism are not described, as they do not differ from those heretofore known in this class of machines.

The movable lip, when in place, lies under thestationary knife and receivesthe nail blank when out, and in the same manner as the stationary lip. Its action is the same also when the nail-blank is turned under and held by the nipper; but after the first gripping dies act and hold the nail-blank and the nipper and lip recede the second die has unobstructed space to press the blank either on part or the whole of the remaining length.

In making horseshoe-nails or spikes on the machine heretofore described it is necessary to force back a large amount of metal in order to form the head. This cannot be done with the ordinary header, which is a broad instrument and comes up against the side of the bed-piece or fixed die. For such nails and spikes I have provided aspecial form of header. (Shown in Fig. 8.) The mandrel \V is fitted to be clamped in the ordinary form of header. It is grooved longitudinally and receives a header, 20, adapted to pass close to the face of the stationary die and to force the metal out against the face of the inclined moving die. The die-is clamped to the mandrel by thesame clamp which holds the mandrel to the bed.

The mandrel W is placed in a machine in the position occupied by the ordinary header, W, (shown in Fig. 2,) and the position of the header to is shown in this figure in dotted lines.

Machines using edge-grip dies and removable nipper may be used without a lip. as in machines of this class the nail does not require turning.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a nail-machine, and in combination, substantially as described, gripping and point ing dies and aremovable lip and their operating mechanism.

2. In combination with the stationary and movable knives and the gripping and pointing dies, a lip and nipper movable laterally to uncover the nail-blanks, substantially as described.

3. In combination, a stationary knife extending over its bed-piece, a removable lip adapted to fit underneath the projecting part of the stationary knife, mechanism for turning and holding the nail-blank under the lip,a pair of gripping-dies operating on the nail-blank near the head, mechanism for removing the lip, and a pair of pointing-dies, all substantially as described.

4. In the described machine, and in combination, stationary and movable knives, a removable lip and nipper, stationary dies, a movable grippingdie carried and fixed on the gripping-lever, and a pointingdie, with mechanism for imparting to said pointing-die an in dependent movement, whereby it is applied after the nipper and lip are removed, substantially as described.

5. In the described machine, a removablelip carried on a bar moving in a guideway, and a bell crank lever, combined with a pivoted frame and nipper connected therewith, and operating mechanism whereby the nipper and lip are moved unequal distances, all substantially as described.

6. In combination with stationary and moving knives and with gripping-dies and pointing-dies, a nipper arranged to operate in the path of the moving pointing-die, and removable intermittingly therefrom to permit the pointing-die to be advanced 'after the nipper is removed, and mechanism for operating the specified parts, substantially as described.

7. The mandrel fitted toa place on the ordinary header and formed with grooves, and in combination with the header w, fitted to the groove and adapted to pass the face of the stationary die and forming the head,substantially as described.

8. In the described machine, the frame P, carrying the pivoted block and nipper, in combination with an arm, 15, fixed on the frame of the machine and carrying the upper pivot for the frame P, said arm being formed with a hole for the upper pivot of the block, substantially as described.

In testimony whereofI have signed my name to this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

JACOB ALTMEYER.

Witnesses:

CHAS. L. STURTEVANT, F. L. MIDDLETON.

ICC 

